Had a doctor yesterday suggest I go into OB/Gyn (my current rotation) and find a fellow female doctor to share a practice with, as in each of us only work part-time, because we're moms first. Yeah. He actually said "You know OB/Gyns in this area make $250-300k, but who needs that much money? You should be happy with half that and work part time because you're a mom." seriously? SERIOUSLY? How about you mind your own business, or better yet, YOU work part time! I can endure dirty jokes from male attendings (in fact, I love them), but this is absolutely ridiculous, no matter how "nice" he thinks he's being.

Of course, I notice that it's easy for men making $500K+ like this guy to tell a woman to work part-time because "who needs all that money anyway?".

And then he spouts off examples of other female OB/Gyns working part-time or are SAHMs. Of course, their husbands are interventional radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, etc, etc. My husband is a house husband with aspirations to be a marriage and family counselor. Yeah, a far cry from having a 2nd home on Lake Michigan, moron.

Ugh, so disgusted, and I get to spend all next week with this guy.

So irritating. Because men with children work part-time, right?

I wonder when the tide will turn? When will it be okay to be career-driven and have children as a *gasp* woman?

Does he have kids? I would be actually, honestly interested in hearing his thoughts on whether he considered cutting to part time to be with them more when they were little and why he did or did not. I know a number of men who considered this years ago and did not because they were afraid of the financial consequences, and now list not doing so as one of their biggest regrets. Perhaps he's one of them!

Actually, yes, he has 4 kids, all grown. Part of our 2h 45m lecture was his life story *rolling eyes*

No where did he ever mention staying home, but I sure heard a lot about how he was a fellow of some famous PhD in reproductive endocrinology *more eye rolls*

Wow. Just wow. By what does he measure himself so highly and you so small?

Perhaps, if you get a chance: "It sounds like you spent a lot of time at work when your children were young, and are worried about others doing the same - what do you think you would do if you were doing it again?"

(What? Passive aggressive? Me??)

Just my two cents...and partially as devil's advocate...but honestly, it sounds like a great plan to me! He definitely could have framed it in a more politically correct way, but whether male or female, working part time for a six figure income is, in my opinion, the perfect recipe for domestic bliss-->The ultimate in work and life balance with more money than most people will ever make! Disclaimer: I am a nearly graduated resident who can't wait to work 3 days a week as an attending after spending the last three years working 70-80 hours on resident salary and rarely seeing my children awake!

It urks me to no end when people assume that the mom should always be the one to work part time, make career sacrifices, etc. And for an attending to say that to you?! UGG. I got that alot when I was interviewing for a job. Oh, we would love for you to join our group, did we mention we are really family friendly and you can easily work part time? Never mind that at the time, I had no intention of slowing down.

Of course I am not wanting to work part time, but my decision is not gender based!

I totally agree that this is mostly disturbing the extent to which it is gender-specific. I have a lot more resentment of the fact that people *don't* assume men want to cut back and spend time with young kids than that people think women might want to. I want people to promote all options to me. I just want my husband to have that, too.

I'm just an MS1, but an attending surgeon at a faculty meet-and-greet type event I attended say how lifestyle-friendly changes in surgical practice that he believes are underway will be so good for women who are interested in surgery, seeing as how they do most the work at home. This segued into a complaint about his wife (also a surgeon) nagging him about how he doesn't take responsibility for household and child rearing, when doesn't she know that (direct quote) "I'm a guy" and menial household tasks and errands just aren't his thing? (We, the students, were of course obliged to politely chuckle. seething on the inside in my case. yes, I'm sure his wife just looooves shopping for diapers, keeping the toilet paper stocked, and scheduling dentist appointments) then he said he didn't understand why his wife continues to do head and neck surgery when she could move to a more office-based ENT practice. He then rounded out the evening by telling my classmate who already holds a PhD that MD/PhD is a waste, that surgeons shouldn't do research, etc etc. Here's hoping that I won't meet too many more of these personalities in the years to come, although that may be too much to hope for. My policy is to pay no attention to the haters. It really gets me, though, that men like these actually think they're being nice and helpful when they're just being insulting and self-serving.

On the other hand, the chairman of CT surgery, been in practice for 40 years, said women make better CT surgeons due to our fine motor skills. That kind of gender stereotyping I guess I can live with :-)